


Her Wonder-World

by poisontaster



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Canon Character of Color, Gen, Happy, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-16
Updated: 2008-04-16
Packaged: 2019-05-26 02:10:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14990498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisontaster/pseuds/poisontaster
Summary: That was the best day.





	Her Wonder-World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sabaceanbabe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabaceanbabe/gifts).



> She's reformed.  
> Just like the neighbor's girl.  
> She's coming home   
> Into her wonder-world.  
> She's moving fast.  
> She's a superstar.  
> She's getting high.  
> She covers up her scars.
> 
> It's the best thing she's ever had.  
> ~"The Best Thing" by Ivy

There was a day.

For a long time after she came to Torchwood, Toshiko didn't go out much. Oh, she supposed the others would say she _never_ went out much, but for that first year or so, it had been a lot worse than that.

There were rationalizations, of course. She was part of a secret, secretive organization; it wouldn't do to make a spectacle of herself. She had to be low-key, circumspect. 

But then, of course, Jack was the last thing from circumspect. 

Not that she ever put herself in the same category as Captain Jack Harkness, you understand. She could never be that…courageous. Nor that flamboyant. 

She also told herself that there was nothing out there to go out _for_. The flat Jack had arranged for her was spacious and well-appointed. Long hours on the job—so much to do, so much to _learn_ —and Amazon made sure her hours were filled. And her supermarket's online service and a double handful of takeaway menus took care of the rest. Her physical needs, at any rate.

And those were the ones that mattered.

The truth, though, was that she'd fallen out of the habit of being around other people. The prison hadn't been pleasant, by any means, but it had been quiet and still and she'd been mostly left alone. Now, having to do something as commonplace as jostle her way through a crowd of morning commuters was enough to fill her with heart-slamming terror.

The addition of Owen was not an improvement on the situation. 

Jack was Jack, of course and Suzie seemed more than happy to let Toshiko do her own thing. But Owen… Owen was so _angry_ , and his anger spilled over onto everyone and everything, indiscriminate. The previously quiet haven of the Hub became a nerve-rattling experience of slammed-down equipment and shouted invective and profanity at the least convenient times. Toshiko's fingers were covered in burns from her soldering iron—the Hub's computer system was hopelessly antiquated and she'd had to practically redesign the whole thing—and her knees, elbows and the top of her head were splotched in bruises from involuntary jerks when Owen wound himself up again. 

"Give him time," Jack said gently, putting an arm around her. It was funny; though she was still quite skittish about being touched, Jack's gestures never alarmed her, were never more than an almost-welcome comfort. "He's lost someone. It's still very soon."

Toshiko had nodded, understanding the unspoken _Be kind to him._ She could do that. For Jack, she could do that. 

Which might be why, after a long night tracking and then burning out a slime devil nest, she went along with it when Owen threw an arm around her shoulders and said, "I've had more than enough of this place for a night; what's say we get out of here, eh, Tosh?", she said, "Sure. All right."

Suzie was already gone but Jack invited himself and though it was barely after dawn, the three of them went for breakfast. Owen knew a place that made the best crepes Toshiko ever had. Jack flirted with the waitress. And Owen. And her. And Owen…Owen seemed oddly at his ease, putting down Jack's come-ons with an amused ease Toshiko wished she could emulate. He also complained mightily about her 'slow' eating habits, but it had been several months at this point and she knew better than to take it personally. 

By the time they got up to go, Toshiko was surprised to find that the restaurant had filled up, a queue of people at the door, waiting for seats. Her stomach clenched at the thought of having to go through them, but Owen grabbed one hand and Jack the other and, mashed between the two of them like a starlet between bodyguards, they bulled their way out the door.

"Well, that was fun." Owen let go of her hand almost immediately to comb his fingers through his hair, grinning. 

"That old lady _groped me_!" Jack said, sounding unsure as if he was intrigued or flattered. The woman in question had to be eighty if she was a day and she winked at Jack. 

"And you loved every second of it, don't lie." Owen shoved Jack's shoulder. 

"Well, I should be getting home." Toshiko ran her palms down the thighs of her jeans, hoping neither of them had noticed how damp they were. 

"Oh, rubbish, Tosh!" Owen's voice wasn't quite a roar, but it made her flinch anyway. "It's _early_!"

"I thought I'd go into work later," she averred, "make sure all's quiet on the Cardiff front."

"Plenty of time for that, Toshiko, my Pearl," Jack answered, holding out his arm extravagantly. "Socialization is key to teamwork. Consider it a work outing."

"A Torchwood field trip?" The idea is so ludicrous it makes Toshiko smile; a super-secret world-saving organization going on corporate retreat and being made to wear matching sweatshirts and do group hugs. 

"Sure." Jack beamed. "Why not?"

Toshiko burst into giggles. "There you go." Owen grinned. "Don't think I've ever heard you laugh before, Tosh."

They dragged her down to the Barrage, the two of them, and rented a trio of Segway PTs. Toshiko was extremely dubious about the whole thing, but Jack insisted and Owen jumped in on his side and so Toshiko found herself driving the thing in a sedate straight line while Jack and Owen drove circles around her, whooping like schoolboys and yelling at her _go faster, Tosh, come on, faster!_

Their gambol down the Barrage was interrupted by a call from Suzie. Halted, Toshiko became aware of the other people around them, staring curiously or incuriously. She was conscious of her wind-blown hair and her cardigan half-blown back from her shoulders. While Jack talked to Suzie, with Owen adding color commentary, she straightened her clothes and combed through her tangled hair as best she could.

"Suzie and I should be able to handle it on our own," Jack promised as he hopped aboard his Segway again. "You crazy kids get some rest and I'll call you if things get crazy."

"Wait!" Toshiko pulls her screwdriver from the pocket of her cardigan and jimmies the speed inhibitor on the Segway. "Don't fall off!" she cautioned. 

"Never." Jack saluted, grinned and took off at a speed that made his coat fly back like batwings. 

"What, you had that with you the whole time?" Toshiko turned around to find Owen staring at her. 

Toshiko looked down at the screwdriver still held loosely in her fingers. Embarrassed, she tucked it away again, a reassuring weight. They didn't allow her access to any of her tools in the prison, of course. She doesn't remember when she got into the habit of carrying them around. There's a Swiss Army Knife in her jeans back pocket, too. "Sure." She tried to prop her glasses up on her nose, but of course, she wasn't wearing them. "Why not?"

"You mean we could've been going like…" Owen waved at Jack's rapidly receding figure, " _that_ the whole time?"

Toshiko laughed. 

Owen looked a little disgruntled, as though he couldn't figure out _why_ Toshiko was laughing, but was willing to go along with it. 

"I suppose we should go and get some rest, like Jack suggested. They might need us later."

Owen made a face. "Nah. No point when we both know Jack'll just be calling us up in a bit, right?" He yawned and stretched expansively. "Might as well stay up."

"Oh." Toshiko rubbed the screwdriver with her thumb through the nap of her sweater. "We should return the Segways first, but then it's a short hop over to the Hub…"

Owen's face squinched up further. "Let Jack call if he needs us. I say that you do whatever it is that you did to Jack's PT and we race down the Barrage and then _I will let you_ treat me to gelato."

Toshiko froze. "I don't think I have any money," she admitted, heart thumping against her ribs. 

"Well, then I'll have to let you owe me." Owen gestures at the Segway. "Now if you please?"

Tosh's cheeks ached as she fished out her screwdriver again and went to Owen's Segway. "All right, but you get to explain to the rental owner what's happened to them."

"No problem," Owen assured her. "There's not much I won't do for a good gelato."

That was the best day.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for sebaceanbabe's 2008 birthday.


End file.
